The Egyptian pound has furthered deteriorated against the US dollar, reaching EGP 7.43 per dollar, comingfrom EGP 7.39 on Thursday. Central Bank of Egypt (CBE) dollar sales have prompted banks to increase the price of dollar Monday to EGP 7.47 for selling and EGP 7.44 for buying, according to the rates announced by the National Bank of Egypt (NBE). The depreciation, the lowest level since December 2012, has came during the CBE's auction, in which the bank offered $40m for banks and sold $38.4m. The value of the US dollar had remained at around EGP 7.14 during the past six months. In December, however, the CBE announced it will raise the number of weekly dollar bids, which led many analysts to forecast devaluation for the Egyptian pound. The devaluation of the pound started on 18 January on which $1 was equivalent to EGP 7.19, but it fell on the following day to reach EGP 7.32. Emirates NBD said in a report released on Saturday that the Egyptian pound is expected to reach EGP 8 by the end of June, if not at a faster and more pronounced pace of depreciation. This devaluation is believed by economists to reassure foreign investors who would like to invest in dollars. Others argued that prices of consumer goods such as medicine, oil and some food products will get higher.
